St. Louis Man in Custody for Knocking Over Jewish Tombstones

The Florissant resident confessed to toppling and damaging approximately 150 Jewish tombstones in 2017. Suspect told investigators that he was on drugs and angry over a personal matter.

On Wednesday, the St. Louis authorities arrested a 34-year-old man after he confessed to vandalizing more than 100 Jewish tombstones in February 2017. According to the suspect’s arrest warrant, the man told the authorities that he was alone, on drugs, and was angry because of a ‘personal problem.’ Cemetery’s administration said that it had to pay $30,000 to repair the damaged tombstones.

Bob McCulloch, a St. Louis County prosecutor, declared that 34-year-old Alzado Harris, a Florissant resident, was recently arrested and charged with several counts of vandalism after he confessed to damaging roughly 150 Jewish tombstones in 2017.

According to Harris’ confession, back in February 2017, he got upset over a personal matter and took drugs before entering the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery and toppling every tombstone he could find. Furthermore, the suspect told the detectives that he was acting alone and that he just had trouble dealing with a personal issue.

Although the man was initially sought for hate crimes, McCulloch pointed out that Harris’ actions weren’t Anti-Semitic.

The authorities managed to identify and track down the suspect who toppled 150 Jewish tombstones after a leather jacket was found at the scene of the crime. Detectives burned the midnight oil to ID the suspect, as the incident came soon after several Jewish institutions received bomb threats.

Talking about bad timing, shortly after the Jewish tombstones incident made headlines, Governor Eric Greitens and VP Mike Pence came to visit the site of the attack.

Conclusion

IDing the individual was hardly challenging, as Harris was sentenced back in December 2017 to 120 days in prison for burglary.

Following his confession, the Florissant resident was charged with institutional vandalism and booked into county prison on a $20,000 bond.

About Andreas Petersen

Andreas was too little to remember when he and his parents first set foot in America. He considers himself a true American citizen, but uses every opportunity to promote his Danish origins. He is deeply found of politics, all nations’ politics and generally looks forward to the presidential elections. His BA degree in Political Sciences has helped him get familiar to the constitutional frames of US and non-US nations.